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The Go San Angelo website featured a great editorial last week by Jenie Wilson, under the headline – “Teach children pets are living beings not to be cruelly discarded.” Wilson is the executive director of Concho Valley PAWS group.

And this is equally important “… thousands of purebred dogs are euthanized by San Angelo Animal Control every year.” So here is someone on the front lines in Texas who reports purebred dogs are dying by the thousands each year in a single shelter.

Yet, the folks on the other side, who constantly fight against any and all new regulation on dog breeding, continue to spread the lie that only mutts and pit bulls are in the homeless ranks. Their propaganda has their pants on fire.

It’s the old argument little kids use with their parents: “But Mom, Billy did it too. He does it all the time. No fair.”

An opinion piece on the Beef Magazine website popped up on the Pack News Wire concerning the topic of the “Emotion in Animal Welfare.” – (Interesting already)

It seems a Purdue University associate professor of animal behavior and well-being spoke before a group in Nebraska and offered some very odd spin on that well-being part. She apparently showed a photo of hens in battery cages beside a photo of two parrots in a cage. And used the Billy-does-it-too argument. Of course, it’s more like – ‘I burned the house down, but Billy broke a lamp, so no fair punishing me.’

And she is quoted as saying, “When we think about animal welfare, everyone has a different idea of what that means.” – No, not really. And later, the associate professor is quoted on the topic of what meat producers should be saying, – “Make sure people know no one is more concerned about our animals than us, and that we are committed to their health and welfare.”

And in the middle of that editorial, I found a link to another piece submitted by the Center For Consumer Freedom (a name not really related to what the group wants).

It starts off trying to define the terms ‘animal rights’ versus ‘animal welfare.’ The writer suggests “animal welfare requires science-based, sometimes difficult choices.” Actually, that’s right – and science-based is where people like me like to go. But then the text turns away from science.

It is suggested hens in cages have a lower mortality rate than hens in cage-free and free-range environments. So stuff the hens in cages where they suffer 24/7 and they’ll live longer. Forget the suffering, even within the notion that the suffering goes for a longer period of time.

It seems their ‘science’ fails to take other factors directly related to the hen’s health into account. What’s the term I need here … what is it? …. oh yeah, that’s science limited to the narrow confines of a cage.

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There are puppy mills and kitten mills; unfortunate but true. And there are mills of all sorts for other pets in the pet trade, including ferrets. The mass “production” of pets is a real problem, but too many people walk into pet stores without considering where the animals come from.

Triple F Farms in Sayre, Pa. is being accused by the the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of several violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Small Animal Channel is reporting the facility is being offered “the choice of waiving its right to a hearing and paying a penalty of $16,679, or proceeding with a hearing” – and it paid the fine.

On her Philly Dawg blog, Amy Worden reports the charges came on the heels of an undercover investigation by PETA. Worden explained the videos show “disturbing images of ferrets with gaping wounds, exposed internal organs, ruptured and bloody eyes, left to suffer with no veterinary care.”

Once again, it took an undercover video effort to expose the horrors at this mill. Some people will be immediately turned off by PETA being involved. But the results in this case are clear – whether PETA was involved or not.

Until states governments and the federal governments become serious about regularly inspecting slaughterhouses across the nation and imposing serious punishment in cases of abuse, undercover video will be the only means available to uncover that abuse.

The individuals and groups trying to criminalize undercover operations are only trying to hide the abuse. It’s a cyclical argument – don’t allow undercover video because it will uncover abuse.

Over the last couple of days, another horrible case has been highlighted in the national media. The cruelty is not something that might be twisted or misinterpreted by camera angles, in the video taken at a slaughterhouse in California. The abuse shown in the video turned over to the USDA by the group Compassion Over Killing is very clear.

An Examiner.com article reports the Central Valley Meat Company in Hanford, Calif. supplies meat to the National School Lunch Program and to several fast-food chains. In-N-Out Burger, McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Burger King and others have now cut ties with the company, according to the LA Times.

Note the statement from the American Meat Institute, which is typical of those trying to defend the indefensible.

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Act of cruelty leads child to an act of compassion: The body of a cat was discovered recently in a park in South Minneapolis, with a stake driven through its throat and into a tree stump.

A local child was so saddened by the act that he worked with his parents to organize a vigil at the park, as reported by the Twins Cities Daily Planet. Half of the people who attended the vigil where kids.

For his efforts, Spencer Snyder and his parents get a well-deserved Pack of Compassion Award.

Judge gets standing ovation for dog-fighting sentence: A judge in Ohio got a lot of praise from local animal-welfare advocates when she called the convicted dog fighter “a monster” and apparently sentenced him to the maximum allowed – six months in jail, five years community control, more than $12,000 in fines, restitution and court costs. And he is never allowed to have animals again.

Pet store owner sees the light on selling puppies: A pet store owner in California wrote an opinion piece for the Burbank Leader, reporting she no longer sells puppies. Her experiences with the transporters, who delivered the puppies to the store and the reality that she was selling puppy-mill puppies, led to her decision.

Sometimes the truck would show up without all of the puppies she had ordered and sometimes the driver would try to sell her sick puppies at a reduced rate. This is part of the ugly underbelly of the pet trade that the pet trade does not want anyone to see.

Last Friday, about 250 dogs were found at another alleged puppy mill, this one in Richland County, Ohio. And a number of news outlets were on the story – thankfully.

Before we link to each story, I think we need to put this into perspective. Some people might suggest these recent raids show the current system and current legislation is working. Those people would be wrong. These busts represent the tip of the iceberg and are only uncovered when someone happens to see something and happens to be someone who will report the crime.

That’s far from being good enough – and the weak slaps on the wrist are far from being good enough under current laws and regulations.

NewsNet5.com reports the kennel operator was convicted of animal cruelty in New Jersey before moving to Ohio.

The Lancaster Eagle Gazette reports many of the rescued Chihuahuas and shar-peis suffered from skin issues, eye problems, fleas, overgrown nails and tooth decay. The kennels was reportedly infested with fleas and covered in feces.

One owner of the facility recently died and the other has gone into hospice care. That is a bad situation and our thoughts should go out to the family. But the fact remains that this was a horrible puppy mill and one individual was quoted in a Toledo Blade story as saying the dogs lived most of their lives in tiny cages.

And the article included this important news: “” Ohio is among a minority of U.S. states that do not require commercial dog breeders to be inspected by the state or adhere to standards of care. “” – So herein – once again – lies the problem.

We must have a system of unannounced inspections and standards in EVERY STATE.

The article quotes Darci VanderSlik, community outreach coordinator for the SPCA of Wake County as saying, “The most frustrating part of it is that it’s just going to be a matter of time before this happens again, before we get another call of another puppy mill bust. Legislation needs to be changed.”

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I’ve been engaged in posting a lot of updates on my local blog about the recent puppy mill raid in Southeastern North Carolina. So I need to offer the readers of Pack Mentality an update tonight.

The couple who ran the puppy-mill operation has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the bust, specifically pleading guilty to 24 counts of Class I animal cruelty charges. They were hit with 36 months of probation (no jail time) and a lifetime ban on possessing animals was imposed. They will be subjected to warrant-less searches to ensure they are not in possession of animals.

I wish jail time was part of the punishment. But I was pleased to read about the lifetime ban on possessing animals. This needs to be an automatic punishment for anyone, anywhere who is found guilty of operating a puppy mill.

In an editorial for Examiner.com, writer Elizabeth Wilson called it “hopeful” that two North Carolina representatives – Jason Saine of Lincoln County and Craig Horn of Union County – plan to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session to enact a new commercial breeding regulations.

And Wilson wrote, “Large players in North Carolina politics have adamantly opposed such legislation, including the AKC, the Pork Council, the Farm Bureau, and the NRA.”

And in Ohio – animal advocates are pushing for new legislation to protect animals from cruelty. NBC4i.com quotes one elected official as being “cautiously optimistic” that Senate Bill 130 – which has been successfully passed in the state Senate – will make it out of the House and on to the governor’s desk.

It is believed that Carey was killed by at least a couple of her canine companions. A friend believes she most-likely fell and hit her head while attempting to break up a fight between two of them.

On the one hand, this is rare occurrence, where dogs kill someone. But it can also serve as a cautionary story. Injuries can and do happen and altercations between family dogs certainly do happen. Anyone telling you they live with as many dogs as Carey lived with, without having altercations on occasion, is either very, very lucky or they’re not telling you their whole story.

Tragically, this story had a horrible ending, one we thankfully do not see very often at all.

Over most of our 22 years of marriage, my wife and I have lived with multiple rescue dogs. A very good majority of the those dogs lived together without problems. But as is the case with kids, altercations happen. It might be over treats or toys or maybe a bit of jealously.

I write a lot about self-awareness and state of consciousness and intelligence and emotion in animals. But none of this means dogs don’t still have instinctive behaviors as well.